Chapter 6.3. Of the Means of getting Money…

Of the means of getting money, of the signs of the change of a lover’s feelings, and of the way to get rid of him.

Money is got out of a lover in two ways:

By natural or lawful means, and by artifices. Old authors are of opinion that when a courtesan can get as much money as she wants from her lover, she should not make use of artifice. But Vatsyayana lays down that though she may get some money from him by natural means, yet when she makes use of artifice he gives her doubly more, and therefore artifice should be resorted to for the purpose of extorting money from him at all events.

Now the artifices to be used for getting money from her lover are as follows:

• Taking money from him on different occasions, for the purpose of purchasing various articles, such as ornaments, food, drink, flowers, perfumes and clothes, and either not buying them, or getting from him more than their cost.
• Praising his intelligence to his face.
• Pretending to be obliged to make gifts on occasion of festivals connected with vows, trees, gardens, temples, or tanks. 72
• Pretending that at the time of going to his house, her jewels have been stolen either by the king’s guards, or by robbers.
• Alleging that her property has been destroyed by fire, by the falling of her house, or by the carelessness of her servants.
• Pretending to have lost the ornaments of her lover along with her own.
• Causing him to hear through other people of the expenses incurred by her in coming to see him.
• Contracting debts for the sake of her lover.
• Disputing with her mother on account of some expense incurred by her for her lover, and which was not approved of by her mother.
• Not going to parties and festivities in the houses of her friends for the want of presents to make to them, she having previously informed her lover of the valuable presents given to her by these very friends.
• Not performing certain festive rites under the pretence that she has no money to perform them with.
• Engaging artists to do something for her lover.
• Entertaining physicians and ministers for the purpose of attaining some object.
• Assisting friends and benefactors both on festive occasions, and in misfortune.
• Performing household rites.
• Having to pay the expenses of the ceremony of marriage of the son of a female friend.
• Having to satisfy curious wishes including her state of pregnancy.
• Pretending to be ill, and charging her cost of treatment.
• Having to remove the troubles of a friend.
• Selling some of her ornaments, so as to give her lover a present.
• Pretending to sell some of her ornaments, furniture, or cooking utensils to a trader, who has been already tutored how to behave in the matter.
• Having to buy cooking utensils of greater value than those of other people, so that they might be more easily distinguished, and not changed for others of an inferior description.
• Remembering the former favours of her lover, and causing them always to be spoken of by her friends and followers.
• Informing her lover of the great gains of other courtesans.
• Describing before them, and in the presence of her lover, her own great gains, and making them out to be greater even than theirs, though such may not have been really the case.
• Openly opposing her mother when she endeavours to persuade her to take up with men with whom she has been formerly acquainted, on account of the great gains to be got from them.
• Lastly, pointing out to her lover the liberality of his rivals.
  Thus end the ways and means of getting money.

A woman should always know the state of the mind, of the feelings, and of the disposition of her lover towards her from the changes of his temper, his manner, and the colour of his face.

The behaviour of a waning lover is as follows:

• He gives the woman either less than is wanted, or something else than that which is asked for.
• He keeps her in hopes by promises.
• He pretends to do one thing, and does something else.
• He does not fulfil her desires.
• He forgets his promises, or does something else than that which he has promised.
• He speaks with his own servants in a mysterious way.
• He sleeps in some other house under the pretence of having to do something for a friend.
• Lastly, he speaks in private with the attendants of a woman with whom he was formerly acquainted.

Now when a courtesan finds that her lover’s disposition towards her is changing, she should get possession of all his best things before he becomes aware of her intentions, and allow a supposed creditor to take them away forcibly from her in satisfaction of some pretended debt. After this, if the lover is rich, and has always behaved well towards her, she should ever treat him with respect; but if he is poor and destitute, she should get rid of him as if she had never been acquainted with him in any way before.

The means of getting rid of a lover are as follows:

• Describing the habits and vices of the lover as disagreeable and censurable, with the sneer of the lip, and the stamp of the foot.
• Speaking on a subject with which he is not acquainted.
• Showing no admiration for his learning, and passing a censure upon it.
• Putting down his pride.
• Seeking the company of men who are superior to him in learning and wisdom.
• Showing a disregard for him on all occasions.
• Censuring men possessed of the same faults as her lover.
• Expressing dissatisfaction at the ways and means of enjoyment used by him.
• Not giving him her mouth to kiss.
• Refusing access to her jaghana, i.e. the part of the body between the navel and the thighs.
• Showing a dislike for the wounds made by his nails and teeth.
• Not pressing close up against him at the time when he embraces her.
• Keeping her limbs without movement at the time of congress.
• Desiring him to enjoy her when he is fatigued.
• Laughing at his attachment to her.
• Not responding to his embraces.
• Turning away from him when be begins to embrace her.
• Pretending to be sleepy.
• Going out visiting, or into company, when she perceives his desire to enjoy her during the daytime.
• Mis-constructing his words.
• Laughing without any joke, or, at the time of any joke made by him, laughing under some pretence.
• Looking with side glances at her own attendants, and clapping her hands when he says anything.
• Interrupting him in the middle of his stories, and beginning to tell other stories herself.
• Reciting his faults and his vices, and declaring them to be incurable.
• Saying words to her female attendants calculated to cut the heart of her lover to the quick.
• Taking care not to look at him when he comes to her.
• Asking him what cannot be granted.
• And, after all, finally dismissing him.

There are also two verses on this subject as follows:

‘The duty of a courtesan consists in forming connections with suitable men after due and full consideration, and attaching the person with whom she is united to herself; in obtaining wealth from the person who is attached to her, and then dismissing him after she has taken away all his possessions.’

‘A courtesan leading in this manner the life of a wife is not troubled with too many lovers, and yet obtains abundance of wealth.’

Footnotes

72 On the completion of a vow a festival takes place. Some trees, such as the Peepul and Banyan trees, are invested with sacred threads like the Brahman’s, and on the occasion of this ceremony a festival is given. In the same way when gardens are made, and tanks or temples built, then also festivals are observed.